They are encouraged by a swell of support over health coverage for birth control.

By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers

Posted: March 02, 2012

WASHINGTON - Sen. Patty Murray says that some Republicans are "waging war" against women by opposing insurance coverage for contraceptives, but, she adds, there's an easy way to fight back: Send $5 or $10 to help get more Democratic women elected to the Senate.

With public opinion polls showing broad acceptance of contraceptive coverage, many Democrats are eager to capitalize on what they perceive to be a series of Republican missteps on the hot issue, confident that it will capture cash now and votes in November.

They won the latest clash Thursday, when the Senate rejected a plan offered by Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) that would have allowed employers and insurers to deny coverage for contraceptives and other health-care services if they found them to be morally or religiously objectionable.

Democrats prevailed as they complained that the language in Blunt's amendment was far too broad.

'Shattered' records

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are seeking to ignite their political base using all the tools they have: speeches, news conferences, online petitions, Facebook, and Twitter. And while Murray (D., Wash.) is busy raising money for Senate candidates in her role as the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises cash for candidates in the House, has sent out a steady stream of e-mails to its potential donors, too.

On Tuesday, the House campaign committee said that it already had received 450,000 signatures from opponents of the "Republican War on Women" and that online donors had sent in $650,000 in a matter of days. The DCCC chairman, Rep. Steve Israel of New York, said the outpouring of support had "shattered every record." Fund-raising picked up quickly last week after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) expressed outrage when Republicans wouldn't allow a woman who backed contraception coverage to testify at a House hearing.

A new Kaiser health-policy poll this week carried more good news for Democrats: It found that 63 percent of Americans support a requirement that private health plans cover the cost of birth control, while 33 percent oppose it.

'Lethargy'

David Schultz, a professor and expert in government and business ethics at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., said Republicans wanted the issue to help them offset "the lethargy, or the lack of enthusiasm," that many conservatives were expressing in the GOP presidential race. But he said the issue could help Democrats attract more swing voters this fall, especially suburban women.

"If they can frame this as a women's-rights issue, a war against women, then I think it helps them, because they already benefit tremendously from a pretty good gender gap," Schultz said.

After Thursday's vote, Murray said that women and families now could "breathe a sigh of relief" but must remain vigilant against Republicans: "They seem to believe that their path to victory on Election Day runs straight through the women's health clinic."

Many Republicans are equally energized, contending President Obama launched an all-out assault on religious freedom with his executive order requiring health plans to cover birth control. While Obama reversed course to exclude religious employers, that has done little to stop the criticism.

Despite the setback, Blunt and other Republicans said the fight would go on.

"What we have is a government that is saying, 'We do not care what we are telling you to do, because we think it is the right thing to do, regardless of your religious beliefs,' " Risch said. "It is wrong. It has to be fought."

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) read the First Amendment of the Constitution to his colleagues Wednesday, saying Congress "shall make no law" prohibiting the free exercise of religion. And he said Democrats were trying to "make political hay" and leading people to believe that the debate was about contraception.